1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing scheme in which public users outside offices and homes can print desired document data on printers installed in public places, such as in airports, railway stations, hotels, and convenience stores.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the widespread use of networked printers, an environment has been proposed in which public users can print desired document data on printers installed in public spaces.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-339237 discloses a printing system that utilizes a cell phone that does not have a print function. An application server receives an e-mail from the cell phone and converts the received e-mail to print data. A printer adapter receives the print data from the application server via a communication network and converts the print data to a format that a printer can receive. The printer prints the print data converted by the printer adapter.
However, to transmit an e-mail to the application server, the cell phone must know the e-mail address of the application server in advance. If the cell phone does not know the e-mail address of the application server, the cell phone cannot utilize the printing system.